Fossil Fuels

EPA releases the Clean Power Plan, a proposal to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants. A press release from the EPA announced the release of the Clean Power Plan, a proposal which provides guidelines on meeting the goals outlined in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to reduce the nation’s number one source of carbon emissions, power plants. The plan will…

Cutting Emissions and Stirring Debate. An article in the New York Times describes the debate surrounding EPA’s Clean Power Plant Proposed Rule on the nation’s power plants.* The rule targets the country’s 600+ coal-fired power plants, which account for the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. Environmentalists are praising the rule and its efforts…

An article in Grist discusses ExxonMobil’s recent agreement to report on climate regulations’ impact on the company. Activists have successfully pressured ExxonMobil to report on how climate regulations might affect the company going forward. The environmentalists’ surprise ally? Shareholders. Those invested in the company – and, in fact, in the fossil energy industry across…

An article in The Atlantic Cities lays out how L.A.’s 4.4 magnitude earthquake renewed questions about the unintended consequences of hydraulic fracturing. The recent earthquake in southern California has renewed debate about the effect of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on seismic activity. As California decides how extensively to develop the Monterey shale, increased…

A Bloomberg article explores the connections between Russia’s stranglehold on European gas production, an export terminal in Maryland, and the stiffening opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. As the decision by President Obama regarding approval of the Keystone XL pipeline looms, environmentalists have taken aim at a new target: shale gas exports. Proponents argue…

Impressive progress in renewable energy generation seems paltry and trivial compared to our growing export of high-carbon petroleum fuels. An insightful article by Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone discusses the many ways American businesses – aided in large part by government indifference or outright support – are selling our dirtiest fuels for consumption…

Clean coal – we hear this term a lot. Unlike many other energy/environment terms, however, this one’s confusing because of the range of circles in which it is used. The fossil fuel industry is a big fan of it, as are some environmental organizations and politicians on both sides of the aisle. We’ve heard it…

This post is dedicated to a dear friend, Chris Acker. With proven natural gas reserves constantly growing and prices on a steady decline, talk about natural gas as a major player in our future has never been more pervasive. A lot of this gas is hard to access, but we’re able to get to so…